Currently there are numerous board games available to the public in which the players use tokens or game pieces which follow a path provided on a game board. During the game, the players move along the path and follow instructions printed on the path or are given options from which to choose. These board games are typically involve the players attempting to be the first to reach or accomplish a common goal in order to win the game.
Generally, board games can be divided into three types of games: race games, acquisition games, and strategy games.
The first type of game, race games, are “races” in that the first player to reach the goal is the winner. In this type of game, the players usually do not have any direct effect on their opponent's game, thus limiting game strategy to decision which only benefit or hinder themselves (e.g., which path to follow). Some prior art games that fall into this category include Candyland® and Life®.
The second type of game, acquisition games, involve the attainment, usually through purchase with game scrip, of components or other game commodities. Typically, to win the game, the players attempt to collect the commodities the fastest. Usually, the amount of scrip and number of commodities are limited, thus some strategy is involved in determining which commodities should be purchased. These types of games, however, do not allow for direct competition between the players. The players merely take passive actions which may or may not immediately affect their opponents (e.g., charging rent to opponents to occupy a particular space). Examples of this type of game include Cooties® and Monopoly®. One drawback of these games is that once a player obtains a desirable commodity it is almost impossible to cause that player to relinquish that commodity, leaving other players less opportunity to win the game.
The third type of game, strategy games, are typically battle or combat related in which players attempt to defeat their opponents by attacking their opponent's game pieces/positions while defending their own. These games involve a great deal of strategy as each player is attempting to directly affect each of the opposing players. Examples of this type of game include chess and Risk®. These games suffer from the drawback that the players must either rely on strict predetermined rules (e.g., “attacking” player in chess always takes the “defending” piece) or must rely on chance to determine whether a move is successful (e.g., rolling dice against each other). Leaving critical portions of the game to chance, however, is often an undesirable means of determining whether your game strategy is effective.
The present invention provides for a game and a method of playing the game that overcomes all of the above stated drawbacks.